anvil

Thats Sneffels and Telly, btw, from Mount Sneffels and Telluride, where they were adopted from.

Great shop and great shop dog and watch deer   

Oh, and great iron and copperwork too!!

I just watched the movie "Sink the Bismark" and was thinking of the song.

Very Cool!

Cool idea! Sweider just modified the working end, then used his air hammer to do the work. Power rules either way.

Dang, in the southwest, we drive that far for morning coffee sometimes.    

Russ Sweider decades ago did the same. Repurposed them for animal heads and sculpting. He had a cool demo doing a dragon head in one heat out of 2" square stock. Scales, eyes, etc,, the whole deal.

On 7/27/2023 at 9:58 AM, Scott NC said:

Care if I borrow it and have a print made? 

Help yourself.

My first thought was to make one out of damascus.

 "Philosophical Razors"..... , Is that what you call a close shave?  

When you mentioned your examples, the one of a miner struck home. As a kid we often went to Cripple Creek, my Mom's side home. At Divide was a larger than life sign of a miner and his donkey pointing twards "The Creek". It's prolly still there. That sign immediately popped into my mind. And a dozen or more ways I would make it from iron if it were a commission.  Yet another example, when standing in front of my scrap pile, I see my journey as a smith from then to now. I have always been in awe of those who do fine art.

I believe my definition above came from a good smith in the 80's. I believe it was Pete Mineer. I'm sure I have misspelled his name, but he had much of his work very often in the "Ring". 

Lol,,, Heres a pic of two um,,er,,"Donkeys" debating the definition of art.    I had a 30 year relationship with these two ladies,, mom and daughter.

Thanks for the high 5, Larry!

Scott, perhaps this is a rare example of my photo art.  

One of my fav Gorden Lightfoot songs.  

I think most of the coking ovens in Colorado and around Raton were owned by CF&I steel mill in Pueblo Colorado. If not owned outright by them, then they were the primary end user of the coke. 

The "S" above is my go to. When I get fancy i do two right angle bends to dimension for each to get a good fit and a little more material for strength. But for quick and dirty, bringing the "S" to a good yellow heat and sliding say a piece of half square in one and a piece of 5/8" in the other then hot fitting in my vice works very well. 

On 7/21/2023 at 10:19 AM, Scott NC said:

I guess I was trying to find out what you would like to make if you ever took a whack at it

Francis Whitaker once said " If the eye can't see it, The hand can't make it." I added a bit to it. "If the mind can't conceive it, the eye can't see it and the hand can't make it." 

That was the intro on how I was going to elaborate on the topic. And then I realized it wouldn't fly. Dang it all,, you made me think.  I realized that the answer is a bit philosophical. To be able to take every moment and have it be as exciting, challenging, and fulfilling as every moment when I am standing between hammer and anvil and in the midst of the best of my works. Thats what I would like.

Then it dawned on me. Thats exactly where I'm at right now with all thats happening in my life. Thanks for the very thought provoking question. Theres far too much going on right now to put it into words, but heres a few,,, A mortise and tenon 100 year old timber facade done and waiting for the new flatbed upgrade on my willys PU with rear winch and boom(named the truck "Baby Boomer") to lift it into place. This is being done by a "kid" as crazy as me and living the same lifestyle as I have forever. Yes, the younger generation is good. A solar array nearing completion, a revitalized spring in the process of being developed, river rock already hauled with the help of a 6' 300 # dude who drives a bobcat two sizes too small for him to fit in!! They are amonst a few friends helping and they are all crazy enough to do my design and use my "by hammer in hand" tools and techniques that I have developed over the years as a traditional smith.  Hey, somebody's got to do it, might as well be me.  

But I still have to put into the terms of my definition above,,, applied art. It certainly has two functions,, Its bringing a lot of joy to a few good people and as it develops is just a good place "To Be".  

Awesome info! Thanks! Brought to you daily only on IFI.

Nice work, Frosty!

I've always been a traditional smith with a small compact shop, so know where you are at. 

Lol, I've had a few people cruise my scrap pile and, with my permission, take stuff. When I visited them later here's my mistakes turned into some pretty cool art! Never been able to do that

Hey, at least I was pretty close on the Cokedale ones. When I started smithing, Colter CarriageWorks was there(Cokedale). He had bought the whole town. Turley told me about him and I drove down to see him. I did some of my first work for him. He's the one who told me when they closed, but he very well could have confirmed your dates. That was a while back in time. 

I believe there were some coking ovens in the Colorado Springs area as well. Thinking the old Pikeview mine. 

It seems Most people start with this and many continue and they do the job. I did.  I prefer the swivel jaw because it fits different forged shapes, but either work. File the jaws smooth and bevil the edges to keep from dinging your work. My welded on handle was a piece of 1/2“*1-1/4" barstock.

I found that for a one off twist they work fine, but if you have multiple bars that need twisting, the adjustment changes and that becomes a real nuisance. I have found that simple is better for me. A simple s like George describes above is far better. The opening on each side of the s is for a different size say 1/2“ and the other is for 3/8" or 5/8". Then make multiple tools for different stock sizes.  Use heavier material for heavier stock.A major benefit for this simple tool is when you twist, if your iron goes in properly, it becomes self locking and that's a real plus. I've used this simple tool, with longer handles or cheaters to twist 1-1/2" square stock. 

They will also show up when you heat your iron. Bring it up slowly and a crack will show up as a darker shadow. 

I think the ones at Redstone and Cokedale both were active well into and a little beyond the mid 20th century. Basically they were for the steel industry centered around Pueblo, Co, and it was far more efficient to ship coke by rail than coal. 

On 7/19/2023 at 11:04 AM, Scott NC said:

I'm curious

Boy, that's a tough one. The art part,, fine art,,, is very hard for me to do. It must have something to do with 2-1/2 years of engineering at colo Univ, 15 or so years as a farrier and 30 some as a traditional smith in a Craftsman's roll. I do well, tho majorly a  stress point, getting an idea of what my client likes as a theme, then designing the project around that idea. More times than not, just using traditional joinery to create his idea creates the "art" part. I have a "dangerous"  bunch of knowledge concerning art history for the blacksmiths craft. That enables me to understand the architectural style of the house and the client saying, for instance, " I really like roses" sets the stage for my design. 

But to just walk up to the forge and figure something " artsie" and do it,,, sheesh,,, leaves me shaking in my boots with an empty mind. A blank slate that stays blank. 

I feel far more comfortable wearing the hat of a craftsman, than the chappeau of an artist.

I came across a couple definitions of the two that fits me well. Considering definitions, these are not meant as " the way", but they work for me.

There's fine art and applied art. Fine art has one primary purpose and that's to create an emotion. Applied art has two. It must create an emotion and it must do something. If it's a gate, it has to keep things in and let things out, and it must create an emotion. Lol, the emotion could be anything from yuch to WOW, depending. Applied art is where the craftsman fits in. 

When it comes to appreciating iron that others do, all styles and types grab me, so I don't have a favorite,, art vs craft vs trade. They all stand pretty tall in my book. 

Peat is far dirtier{blacksmith dirtier} than charcoal so you would most likely have a harder time forge welding, if its actually possible, with peat. I believe your problem is experience, not fuel source. 

Looks like to me you have everything under control! and a very nice vid. For me to give a better answer, I'd need to know where your forge setup is and what is its importance in your work, meaning do you do mostly fab work or blacksmithing? 

Lol, leave it as it is and call it "evolution"